Berlin bomb victims seek delayed Libya compensation

German lawyers representing more than 160 victims of a Berlin nightclub bombing in 1986 urged Libya yesterday to explain why millions of dollars in agreed compensation had not been paid.

Libya signed a deal on September 3 to pay $35 million to the non-US victims of the blast at the La Belle disco, a popular spot with US soldiers in then West Berlin.

Under the terms of the deal, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's charity foundation was supposed to pay an initial $15 million installment by September 8, a second installment of $15 million by December 1 and a final $5 million by March 1, 2005.

However, the first payment has not yet arrived. "We presume it is a bureaucratic delay," said Ulrich von Jeinsen, one of the principal negotiators for the victims, adding he had just sent an email to ask about the state of the first payment.

Hans-Joachim Ehrig, another principal negotiator, confirmed the compensation had not been transferred and said his clients were far from happy. "We have approached the Gaddafi foundation to request an explanation for the delay," he said.

A German court ruled in 2001 that the Libyan secret service was behind the bombing which killed two US soldiers and a Turkish woman and injured more than 200 people, although Libya has stopped short of accepting criminal responsibility.

Libya has taken significant steps to win over western countries and end three decades of international isolation.

Col. Gaddafi announced last December he was renouncing weapons of mass destruction.

Libya has already agreed to pay $2.7 billion to families of victims of the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing, for which a Libyan secret agent was convicted. It has also pledged $170 million for the 1989 bombing of a French airliner over Niger.

Payouts to US victims of the La Belle bombing and their families are the subject of separate legal action in the United States.